I enter the shop because the fuchsia skirt in the window tells me to. Inside, a silk mod-print shift winks from a mannequin. Lemon Twist is evidently a magic portal to fun, and clearly flirty, fashion. While I’m examining the silk dress up close, its sassy neighbor, a navy blue mechanic’s jumpsuit, waves me over. It’s possible that I have a wandering eye.
As I step out of the dressing room, the fuchsia skirt cheekily announces it’s coming home with me. In the three-way mirror, I’m tempted to agree: It’s just about perfect. It’s, like, 93 percent perfect. Just then, as if reading my mind, the skirt says it wishes it were about 1 inch shorter. And since we’re talking: Could it also have the fun patch pockets from that other skirt across the room — and perhaps the blue top stitching from the nearby jumper?
This skirt: very bossy but tasteful! Dare I pass these thoughts to the shop gal, when said shop gal is also shop owner and designer? To dispel the tension, let me fast-forward 10 years to the present. As it happens, yes, Lemon Twist’s Danette Scheib listens to clothing, and assured me that day that the skirt’s wishes were in line with its maker’s vision. Scheib happily agreed to create a custom skirt, at no extra charge. A few weeks later, I was swinging down the street in my short cargo skirt. Since responding to that original skirt’s demands, Scheib and I have let many other garments boss us around in the intervening years.
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Another local creator of fun, flexible fashion, Dema Grim also designs with a specific point of view while leaving room for garments to request a different form. Until recently, Grim owned a namesake boutique on Valencia Street, but has given up the retail aspect for custom-made goodies. In her new atelier on Market Street, she meets with clients to get to know them and their wishes, then creates special pieces.
Depending on client and occasion, a request may come in for a garment from a recent Dema collection — perhaps a vintage-inspired blazer, patterned date-night dress or playful lined skirt. Those items are cut to the client’s figure and feature hand-selected fabrics, possibly even supplied by the client. (For a bit of extra money, “custom” has its privileges.) Other times, Grim will create an entirely new concoction from scratch, combining client’s fantasies with designer’s vision. For all garments, Grim stores clients’ patterns for future ordering, a benefit any self-respecting garment will appreciate.
If my closet could talk (and clearly it does), the pieces from Lemon Twist and Dema might tell you that due to the long-term relationships we’ve created together, they’re the items that get reached for more often, and even more lovingly, than their off-the-rack brethren. But let’s not let that go to their heads.
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Kelly Niland is a San Francisco freelance writer and art director. Email: style@sfchronicle.com
Lemon Twist 3418 25th St., S.F. www.lemontwist.net
Dema By appointment only. (415) 595-0357; dema@godemago.com
